5 Reasons to Watch Serie A this Weekend

With the international break looming after this weekend’s set of matches, some Serie A teams are pondering making a coaching change. Crotone has just collected one point in their first six matches, leaving Davide Nicola very vulnerable despite having a rather weak squad, while Giampaolo’s seat is getting hot after four losses in a row. While Crotone’s match against Cagliari and Sampdoria’s showdown against Palermo will have huge implications, there are also many other interesting story lines in Serie A this weekend: How will Napoli handle turnover?  When it comes to tactical ability it’s hard to argue against Sarri being one of the elite coaches in Serie A. But he probably could improve with the way he handles the media and player turnover- which is understandable when you consider this is just his third season in Serie A and his first in European competitions. Last season many of Napoli’s key players including Allan and Jorginho ran out of gas towards the end of the season because they played so much. To improve the situation, sporting director Giuntoli and president De Laurentiis (Sarri is the rare coach who doesn’t want to be involved with transfer moves) went out of their way to bring more depth to the squad by signing Zielinski, Rog, Diawara, Giaccherini and Tonelli- it will be interesting to see if Sarri begins rotating more starting with the match in Bergamo on Sunday. Maksimovic is expected to make his first start replacing the injured Albiol, while Hamsik may be rested in favor of Zielinski. The partenopei will face an Atalanta desperate for points despite being without their leading scorer Kessie (now on the radar of many top clubs including Chelsea). New coach Gasperini brought a radically more offensive style to the team than his predecessor Reja, but so far the results have been rather disappointing. Milan dodges a massive bullet with Berardi out for Sassuolo, but look out for Defrel while Icardi is known for being a Juve killer the same can be said for Berardi with Milan. Sassuolo’s striker grew up as an Inter fan and he has certainly played with extra passion when facing the rossoneri, in 2014 he scored four goals against them in a match that cost Allegri his job. But Berardi will miss Sunday’s match because of an injury, if that weren’t enough Sassuolo will also be without underrated midfielder Duncan as well as Cannavaro and the ex Matri. Coach Di Francesco can at least count on a red hot Defrel, who has scored 4 goals this season and is being monitored by Liverpool and Arsenal. Defrel has an intriguing partner in 23 year old Matteo Politano- the two will be tested by a much improved Milan defense that hasn’t conceded a goal in the past three games. Roma and Inter face each other after very different results in Europa League probably the best part of playing in the Europa League is the chance of getting to the Champions League by winning it. In previous years, Italian clubs have taken it as seriously as Trump did his debate preparation- but things have changed a bit since there is the Champions League carrot dangling. While this is certainly true for Roma who put in a great performance against Atra Giurgi, the same cannot be said for Inter who lost once again in the competition. Despite De boer’s claims that the club takes the Europa League very seriously, the results say the opposite. Considering the two defeats in the first two matches in the competition, Inter has ensured that their only way in to the next Champions League will have to come by finishing in the top 3 in Serie A, which makes the match against Roma a key test. While it’s small sample size, Juventus and Napoli look like the two best teams in Italy- both Inter and Roma find themselves in the next tier. The game at the Olimpico will give us an indication as to how these two teams compare to one another. Inter has a very dangerous offense featuring Banega, Candreva (off to a very good start at the club) and Perisic supporting Icardi- Roma on the other hand is trying to find the ideal partner for Manolas in the middle of the defense and have had to move Bruno Peres to the left wing to compensate for Mario Rui’s injury. Can Belotti score against Fiorentina's strong defense? While Paulo Sousa can’t count on any big name on defense, the Viola have still managed to concede the least amount of goals (4) along with Juventus so far this season. Mexican defender Salcedo has been a very pleasant surprise, and sporting director Corvino brought back solid center back De Maio to Italy (after a very short stint at Anderlecht) to bring depth to the defense. Fiorentina will be tested by Torino center forward Belotti who already has 5 goals so far this season. The striker known as “Il Gallo” (the Rooster) has been sensational in the 2016 calendar year, and while he did lose his former partner Immobile in the summer, Torino has acquired both Ljajic and Iago Falque to give him support on the wings. Boye’ who is coming off an excellent match against Roma may end up starting over Ljajic. Belotti could be an important for new azzurri coach Ventura, the two were at Torino together last season. How will Lazio cope with Biglia's absence? Despite not being part of any European competitions, Lazio is one of the Serie A teams with the most depth- and now it will be tested. Captain Biglia suffered an injury to his left calf that will keep him out for about 6 weeks; his absence will give more playing time to both Cataldi and Milinkovic Savic, two very intriguing midfielders. Biglia’s injury may force coach Simone Inzaghi to scrap the 3 5 2 he has used so far to go with a more classic 4 4 2. For the away match against Udinese he will also be without keeper Marchetti as well as right wing back Basta and center back Bastos, who has shown enough flashes that lead me to believe sporting director Tare’ may have finally found a good partner for De Vrij. The Udinese that Lazio will face on Sunday isn’t the team full of prospects they have been known to be in the last few years. The Friulani have now a veteran squad especially on defense with Heartaux, Danilo and Felipe and they have a conservative coach in Iachini. Udinese does have a very exciting young player in De Paul who has been given Di Natale’s former number 10.